Aidan - I accept there is a positive aspect to public debt. It is necessary in order to invest in productivity boosting infrastructure and services. Ratings agencies undermining govts that invest directly in public infrastructure are actually hurting the Australian and ultimately the world economy because they deter public investment in that productivity improving infrastructure and services. BUT PRIVATE DEBT will come back and bite is in the bum. Private debt is not necessarily sustainable OR productivity enhancing. And sooner or later it needs to be paid back.

But re: Superannuation - its not so much superannuation per se I'm complaining about. Its superannuation CONCESSIONS in so far as they publicly subsidise the savings of the Wealthy and the well-off - let's say the top 10% or 20%.

Though there IS a problem with superannuation more broadly too - In that it privatises risk and reproduces inequality in retirement - hurting low income workers and women.....

Tristan, loans will obviously need to be paid back, but new loans will replace them, so there's no apparent reason why private debt can't continue to grow for ever (as a trend) as long as we have increasing productivity and/or falling interest rates and/or some inflation. Far from being a bad thing, our economy depends on it.

But when private debt isn't growing then (unless there's an external surplus) public debt will need to grow. Trying to do otherwise will fail, but will wreck growth in the process.

It depends how much private debt grows in proportion to the ability to service that debt. Debt can increase too much too quickly. Which can lead to a crisis of confidence and a more general collapse. But without debt full stop then things just don't get done. Without debt the productivity enhancing infrastructure never gets done. Also sometimes debt is needed to inflate an economy during times of low confidence; classic Keynesian counter-cyclical investment and expenditure. Really though we would be best off with a more robust mixed economy with aspects of planning which could iron out the economic cycles. We've learned that full planning doesn't work. But neither does laissez faire. We need a hybrid social democratic economy.

Tristan Ewins, private debt is not so much the problem as business confidence.

Big business borrows in the billions, which then employs medium business, who in turn employ small business who employ most of the 'on the grond' workers.

Now if big business can't be assured that interest rates are going to stay level, or that governments won't all of a sudden shift the goal posts, insulation and solar being two such examples, although they wernt so much big businesses that were effected, but many businesses today are cautious of government legislation, essoecially IR policy changes as these can be game changers when encountered mid stream.